Audit & Accounting

The Securities and Exchange Commission's Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting voted Thursday to approve the recommendations in its final report, which the SEC will present publicly on Friday.

Under pressure from banks and regulators, the Financial Accounting Standards Board has decided to reverse itself and postpone the effective date of an accounting rule that would have forced financial institutions to move assets and liabilities from special-purpose entities such as mortgage-backed securities onto their balance sheets.

The Securities and Exchange Commission signed a memorandum of understanding with the Labor Department to make permanent the sharing of information to help protect the retirement savings of American workers.

External audit fees are finally beginning to moderate and in some cases decline for big companies for the first time since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act went into effect in 2004.

Accounting firm Amper, Politziner & Mattia has reorganized its leadership team, appointing a new chairman, CEO and COO.

CPA firm Eide Bailly plans to merge with Murrell, Hall, McIntosh & Co., expanding its staff to over 1,000 and providing combined revenue of $123 million.

The Securities and Exchange Commission plans to hold a roundtable discussion on Aug. 4 to compare the performance of International Financial Reporting Standards and U.S. generally accepted accounting principles during the recent period of market turmoil caused by the subprime loan crisis.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has adopted rules and a related form to govern when a firm would be allowed to succeed to the registration status of a predecessor firm following a merger or other change in the registered firm's legal status.

KPMG has released a study that ranks cities with the most favorable tax structures for business.

BDO Seidman reported that its annual revenue increased 11.9 percent to $659 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2008 from $589 million the previous fiscal year.